Gabriel Kahane Sings and Leads in Four Unforgettable Programs
Singer, composer, and storyteller Gabriel Kahane unveils a bold quartet of programs that reimagine the concert hall as a space for intimate conversation, cultural inquiry, and musical communion.
In Heirloom, a deeply personal collaboration with his father, pianist and conductor Jeffrey Kahane, the two explore lineage and memory through works by Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, and Gabriel’s own compositions—including his acclaimed piano concerto Heirloom.
Kahane’s clarinet concerto, If love will not swing wide the gates…, written for Anthony McGill, anchors a series of programs that amplify voices across genre and time, from Julius Eastman to Shelley Washington, threading personal narrative with communal resonance.
With Mozart Songs, Kahane turns inward, transforming arias and fragments from Mozart’s operas into a contemporary song cycle for chamber orchestra and voice—performed while leading from the stage in a fluid melding of past and present.
Finally, a new large-scale song cycle headlines a full-orchestra program pairing Kahane’s singular voice with works by Gabriella Smith or Katie Balch, and culminating in Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story—a celebration of American sound, refracted through a modern lens.
Heirloom: Jeffrey & Gabriel Kahane (Option 1)
2.2.2.2 - 2.2.1.0 - timp+2 - harp - strings (8.8.6.4.2)
(Jeffrey Kahane & Gabriel Kahane, duo - no orchestra)
Paul Simon: Train In the Distance
Connie Converse: Two Tall Mountains
Joni Mitchell: A Case of You
Gabriel Kahane: Heirloom (concerto for piano and orchestra)
*****
Gabriel Kahane: Where are the Arms (orchestral version)
Gabriel Kahane: October 1, 1939/Port of Hamburg
Gabriel Kahane: To Be American
Gabriel Kahane, voice, piano, electric guitar
George Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue
Heirloom: Jeffrey & Gabriel Kahane (Option 2)
2.2.2.2 - 2.2.1.0 - timp+2 - harp - strings (8.8.6.4.2)
(Jeffrey Kahane & Gabriel Kahane, duo - no orchestra)
Paul Simon: Train In the Distance
Connie Converse: Two Tall Mountains
Joni Mitchell: A Case of You
Gabriel Kahane: Heirloom (concerto for piano and orchestra)
*****
George Gershwin: An American in Paris
Gabriel Kahane: Pattern of the Rail (Six Orchestral Songs from Book of Travelers)
*****
Gabriel Kahane: Heirloom (concerto for piano and orchestra)
If love will not swing wide the gates…with Anthony McGill (Option 1)
John Adams: Shaker Loops
Optional Intermission
Gabriel Kahane: If love will not swing wide the gates…
Julius Eastman: Stay On It
If love will not swing wide the gates…with Anthony McGill (Option 2)
Shelley Washington arr. Leilehua Lanzilotti: Middleground
Gabriel Kahane: If love will not swing wide the gates…
*****
John Adams: Shaker Loops OR Steve Reich: Different Trains (new version for string orchestra)
If love will not swing wide the gates…with Anthony McGill (Option 3)
Osvaldo Goslijov: Tenebrae
Aaron Copland: Clarinet Concerto
*****
Schubert arr. Gabriel Kahane: Nacht und Träume
Gabriel Kahane: Veda
Gabriel Kahane voice, electric guitar, leader
Gabriel Kahane: If love will not swing wide the gates…
Mozart Songs
Mozart: Overture from Le Nozze di Figaro
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 12 K. 414 in A Major OR Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 17 in G major, K. 453, OR Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 22 in E-flat major, K. 482 OR Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major K. 488
*****
Gabriel Kahane: Mozart Songs (arranged for chamber orchestra)
Gabriel Kahane, voice and leader
Mozart: Symphony No. 35 in D Major “Haffner”
Bernstein: West Side Story
Gabriella Smith: Bioluminescence Chaconne OR Gabriella Smith: Tumblebird Contrails OR Katie Balch: musica pyralis
Gabriel Kahane: New Song Cycle
Gabriel Kahane, voice and leader
*****
Bernstein: Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
Contact Us
We invite you to contact us now about finding a date to bring a Gabriel Kahane Orchestral Program in the 2026/27 season.